1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed generally to detecting and preventing fraud in network-based electronic commerce transactions, and more particularly to evaluating the risk of conducting a particular electronic commerce transaction.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a network-based electronic commerce (e-commerce) system, customers and merchants typically conduct transactions over a network, such as the Internet. The merchants and customers typically access the network via a network device such as, for example, a computer, a cell phone, a smart phone, a GPS device, or any other electronic device capable of accessing a data or telecommunications network. The merchants may include, for example, banks that offer on-line banking services, retailers that sell tangible products via the Internet, Internet gaming websites that provide a forum in cyberspace for virtual competitive play, and the like.
Currently available fraud detection and notification services may be provided to the merchants as a subscription service by a network service provider that specializes in fraud detection. Such fraud detection and notification services may include validating and authorizing credit card transactions, and/or providing other forms of fraud protection and/or prevention. For example, services are able that recognize and help merchants avoid network devices associated with a stolen credit card. Such services may help prevent the perpetrator using the stolen credit card from using hundreds of other stolen credit cards in transactions with the merchants who subscribe to the service.
Although existing approaches to detecting e-commerce fraud are often targeted toward deterring a merchant from doing business with an e-commerce entity likely engaged in fraud, existing approaches to detecting e-commerce fraud do not leverage shared data. Further, many existing approaches have one or more of the following limitations. First, many fraud detection system produce “false negatives,” in which risky transactions go unnoticed by the fraud detection systems. False negatives may occur if a returning network device is unidentifiable because one or more of its device identifiers have been deleted, or because the network device is attempting to “cloak” itself by using, for example, an anonymous proxy to access a network service provider (e.g., a website). Second, when the merchant does not have an actual or “real” device identifier associated with a particular network device, the fraud detection system may not provide sufficient information to the merchant for assessing the risk of transacting business with that particular network device. Third, the network device reputations determined by the fraud detection system alone may include insufficient information to aid the merchant's decision making because sometimes additional data is needed to identify fraudulent transactions. Finally, the fraud detection system must have an established device-account association to make a valid association between the network devices and/or between customer accounts.
The present application addresses these limitations and provides other advantages as will be apparent from the following detailed description and accompanying figures.